We see Professor Evans’ pride and Dr Fynn Bruey’s relief (not to mention her little boy’s sheer insouciance amid the big occasion).

Professor Evans, as we know, is leaving ANU after a decade’s service. He speaks with ANU Reporter about his time here and his hopes for the University’s future.

In her Alumna Essay, Dr Finn Bruey tells us about how the extraordinary hardship she faced as a refugee from Liberia informed her passion for academic advocacy.

Combined, both these articles might come in at well over 1000 words, but one has to admit the adage certainly holds true when thinking about what Lannon’s picture can tell us before we’ve even read a single paragraph.

Elsewhere in the summer edition, we explore the full spectrum of achievements, pursuits and polemic that can only be found across our ever-evolving campus and among our far-flung alumni.

That most perennial of anthropological mysteries – What happened to the Neanderthals? – gets a guernsey via ANU archaeologist Dr Sofia Samper Carro’s fascinating field studies south of the Pyrenees. Dr Samper Carro is part of a team that is looking at how Neanderthals appeared to have been adapting hunting techniques to suit changing game (from horses to hares) and what this says to us about their demise.

Light years away from unearthing terrestrial secrets, out in deepest darkest space, physics professors David McClelland and Susan Scott and their dedicated team are continuing to make (or at least, detect) gravitational waves.

Using Einstein's General Theory of Relativity as a road map and helped along by instruments developed at ANU called, balefully enough, ‘quantum squeezers’, the University will establish a centre next year to bring together gravitational-wave scientists and astronomers to ensure our leading role in gravitational astrophysics is maintained well into the future.

Meanwhile, head of the ANU School of Music, Associate Professor Kim Cunio, asks us to ponder what a meld of Triple j Unearthed and ABC Classic might sound like?

The answer is ANU Press Music, a new platform giving academic artists and musicians, as well as those outside academia, the chance for their work to resonate among wider audiences. The open-access label is free of commercial constraints and will especially foster Indigenous musicians and composers.

So, let’s turn it up to 11. Hope you enjoy this issue.

Ben Doherty

Editor, ANU Reporter